The day after he agreed to his $85 million contract, becoming the exclamation point to a monumental day in franchise history, Olivier Vernon was quite perceptive in discussing the woes of the Giants defense he was hired to help revive.

"That's not the standards of the Giants defense," Vernon said of the 2015 edition during a teleconference with local reporters, "and that's not the Giants way."

This is not a 'Blame Reese' situation. Because when the Giants re-signed Pierre-Paul and signed Vernon, the assumption (and the internal plan) was always to complement them with the selection of a player like Leonard Floyd in the NFL Draft, and perhaps another pass rusher in the middle rounds. But they got beaten to Floyd on draft night, and the way their board fell the rest of the weekend did not afford them a chance to add another pass rush option.

As we discussed on this week's Talk is Cheap podcast, these are all the reasons why the Giants should be in on veteran free agent Dwight Freeney, who had eight sacks for the Cardinals in 2015 and still wants to play, as a situational player, and investigating cheap trade options like Browns linebacker Barkevious Mingo. And yes, if there is a higher-quality pass rush option out there you could pry away with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as trade bait, Reese should look into it.

Once you get past the two stars, the rest of the pass rushing corps is full of uncertainty and inexperience. And if one of the two starters gets injured (or Pierre-Paul does not make the progress they believe he will in his second season post-fireworks accident), the Giants could be right back to where they were last season. And they can't afford to lose their way again.

TALK IS CHEAP, Ep. 53: How Giants can improve roster before training camp